UVU tracks: Laryea-Akrong leads UVU at Bronco Classic

By James Warnick
For the Deseret News

Published: Sunday, Aug. 2 2015 7:33 p.m. MDT

UVU senior sprinter Allah Laryea-Akrong gets set for a race at the BYU Invitational on Jan. 11 at the Smith Fieldhouse. On Saturday, Laryea-Akrong set a new UVU school record in the 200m dash with a time of 21.18. (UVU Athletics)

NAMPA, Idaho — Utah Valley University senior Allah Laryea-Akrong led the men's and women's track & field teams Saturday afternoon at the Boise State Bronco Classic by winning both the 100 and 200m dashes.

Laryea-Akrong not only won both sprints, but he set a new school record in the 200m by obliterating the previous record by 0.26 seconds. The Wolverine senior won the race with a time of 21.18 to rank him 21st in the nation in the event. Laryea-Akrong also took home the 100m title on the day in a time of 6.76, just seven one-hundredths of a second off (6.69) of the school record that he set back on Jan. 11 at the BYU Invitational.

"We had a lot of personal bests today, so things are starting to shape up at the right time to get us ready for the conference championships," UVU head coach Scott Houle said. "Allah again just continues to get better and better. We're excited about his improvement and that he was able to keep himself in the national rankings."

Not only Laryea-Akrong ran well in the sprints for UVU on the men's side, as Nicholas Taylor placed third in the 200 with a time of 21.75 and fourth in the 100 with 6.84.

The men's relay tandem of Taylor, Jake Brydson, Logan Rusch and Blake Adams placed second in the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:21.82. Cole Eisenhauser led the way in the hurdles as he placed third in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.47.

Macy Butterfield led Utah Valley's men's team in the distance events by placing fifth in the 3000m run with a time of 8:54.54.

In the field events, the UVU men had four participants finish in the top nine in the pole vault. Michael Ashton led the way by clearing 14-11.00. Maryn Pincock led the Wolverine women on the day with a second-place showing in the shot put (14.04m). The throw was also good enough for a personal record for Pincock. Also finishing second for the women was Ali Shields, as she took second in the triple jump with a leap of 35-00.25. Jessica Lingwall and her jump of 5-03.00 was good enough to earn her a fifth-place finish in the high jump on the day.

In her first collegiate 3000m run, freshman Darian Sharp led the Wolverine women by placing fourth in the race with a time of 10:16.48. Krissy Knowles also finished in fourth place at the meet as she came in fourth in the 60m hurdles (8.87).

Sisters Megan Burr and Brown-Renshaw led UVU in the sprints as they placed sixth and seventh respectively in the 60 with times of 7.88 and 7.90.

At the Bronco Classic the Wolverines faced competitors from host Boise State, Fresno State, Utah State and Utah, as well as a number of Division II and NAIA foes.

The Wolverines will now take the next couple of weeks off to prepare for the Great West Conference Indoor Championships that will take place in Newark, N.J., on Feb. 23 & 24. Both of UVU's teams were chosen to repeat in the preseason coaches' poll.

James Warnick is an assistant sports information director at Utah Valley University. For more information about Wolverine athletics, visit www.WolverineGreen.com.